GBB: No. 4 Omaha North 56, No. 3 Omaha Westview 43

As the Vikings dribbled the final seconds off the clock at the Heider Center Saturday night, a deafening roar of applause erupted from the packed gym, celebrating what the girls on the court had just accomplished. The Vikings threw up the Vs in response, sharing the moment with their fans.

Omaha North coach Michaela Dailey said the reality in that moment felt even better than she had imagined.

“It was great,” Dailey said. “That’s what I love. I was telling everybody the way that our community showed up for us over this whole holiday tournament is amazing. I always knew they had our back or whatnot, and so it’s just nice to see that everybody’s in here supporting us. It’s great that we were able to have two OPS schools in this, and so it was just a great atmosphere.”

The Westview Wolverines handled the Vikings’ pressure well in the first half, but the dam finally broke in the second and North pulled away to secure its first Metro Holiday Tournament championship.

“It’s so validating,” Dailey said. “These girls work so hard. People doubted us and were always asking, like, ‘How you going to get these girls to play together?’ I already knew that they would be able to do that because of what they’ve shown. A lot of these girls have played for me over the summer, so I know what they’re capable of, and they’re all understanding that it takes everybody to contribute in order for us to win.”

A year ago, the Vikings didn’t win a game in the Metro Tournament and finished below .500 overall at 10-14. However, they returned their top three scorers and supplemented that core group with talented transfers from Omaha Central (Sanai Cotton-Welchen, Justine and Georlene Tcheuhchoua), Omaha Westside (Himayajo Metoyer) and Bellevue East (T’Niyah Wilson-Smith).

With the transfers not yet eligible to open the season, the Vikings dropped their first two games of the season against two of Class A’s best in Omaha Westview (71-57) and Millard West (59-50). From there, the Vikings traveled to Phoenix, Ariz., for the Tournament of Champions featuring teams from all over the country. North went 3-1, finishing in third place in its division.

Following a strong finish in Arizona, the Vikings returned to Omaha and ran through the Metro Holiday Tournament, including wins over the Wildcats in the semifinals (64-44, ending their 33-game winning streak) and the Wolverines in the final.

“They’re coming together,” Dailey said. “Like I said at the beginning of the season, it was just like, ‘Hey, what are our goals?’ And if our goal is to win a state championship or get to state, we have to play together. We just have to figure each other out, right? They adjusted well. We went down to Phoenix, I think that helped us out a lot too, playing some tough teams and seeing what we all can do. We brought it back here.”

Westview outscored second-seeded Millard North 34-12 in the second half of the semifinals to earn a spot in the championship, and the Wolverines put up a good fight in the final. North took a 25-24 lead into halftime, but the game shifted in the third quarter. The Vikings forced six turnovers and ripped off a 12-1 run to open the second half — sparked by a passionate halftime speech from Dailey.

“These girls, they know what they can do, but they kind of get frustrated and whatnot,” the head coach said. “You’ve got to stay disciplined, you’ve got to stay disciplined. We don’t have to change what we do well. That’s what kind of happened, right? We stopped being disciplined, people fell out of rotations, they started hitting shots. So my halftime speech got them going. They knew what it was. The third quarter has been our quarter.”

North held Westview to 3-for-12 from the field in the third quarter to create the separation it needed then fended off a comeback attempt in the fourth quarter as Westview cut the deficit to six at 47-41 with just under three to play. However, the Vikings shot 7-for-8 from the line the rest of the way (and 17-for-23 overall in the game) to close out the game.

Dailey said she knew from the start her team could accomplish such a feat, and the Vikings proved her right in front of one of the largest crowds they’ll play in front of all season.

“There was never a doubt in my mind,” Dailey said. “We had to work through some things within the team to understand what we needed to do to be successful, but defense wins games, and that’s we are. We’re a defensive team. It creates our offense, and so as long as we doing that, we’re taking care of business.”

Justine Tcheuhchoua, a Jackson State commit, finished with a game-high 18 points on 6-of-10 from the field and 6-of-8 from the line, five rebounds and two steals. Wilson-Smith added 12 points and seven rebounds while Cotton-Welchen chipped in 10 points and five rebounds.

Senior Stella Williams was the lone Wolverine in double figures, capping a strong tournament with 11 points on 4-of-8 shooting (2-of-5 from 3) and five rebounds.

“This whole tournament was about showing everyone what we could do. We know what we’re best at, and next is taking state.”

Justine Tcheuhchoua had 18 points and five rebounds to lead Omaha North past Omaha Westview 56-43 to claim the Metro Conference Tournament title.… pic.twitter.com/gOYYEYuTJd

— Hurrdat Sports (@HurrdatSports) January 4, 2026

NebPreps All-Tournament Team

>> MOP — Justine Tcheuhchoua, Jr., Omaha North: 14.0 PPG, 64.5% FG, 73.7% FT, 4.3 RPG, 2.5 SPG

>> T’Niyah Wilson-Smith, Jr., Omaha North: 13.5 PPG, 52.4% FG, 11.8 RPG (5.0 ORPG), 3.3 APG, 2.5 SPG

>> Stella Williams, Sr., Omaha Westview: 14.3 PPG, 45.8% FG (39.4% 3FG), 4.8 RPG, 1.8 APG

>> Kylee Paben, Sr., Millard West: 19.3 PPG, 50.0% FG (35.7% 3FG), 81.3% FT, 8.0 RPG (2.0 ORPG), 3.3 SPG, 1.8 BPG

>> Mia McKenzie, Fr., Millard North: 15.7 PPG, 78.9% FT, 3.3 RPG, 2.0 SPG